


For everyone I've left behind

by WatermelonTuesdays



Series: Finding Family [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Because 1 min of Shiro crying over Adam's name on a wall was not enough closure for this bitch, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Past Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Pre-Keith/Shiro (Voltron), RIP Adam, Season/Series 07, mid-season 7, platonic comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 02:44:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16945485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatermelonTuesdays/pseuds/WatermelonTuesdays
Summary: Very short piece about Shiro's grief after returning to Earth and finding out that Adam is gone. Keith gives him what comfort he can.-----The next silence lasted several minutes.“What’s really wrong, Shiro?” When Shiro did not reply, he pressed further, “You’re not one to shut yourself away in the dark just because the war has reached Earth.”Shiro sighed heavily. His words came out with a restrained heaviness, like he was trying to make them light but failing. “The casualty list was larger than I expected.”





	For everyone I've left behind

**Author's Note:**

> Here is part 2 of this series!
> 
> We've taken a massive time jump (almost like we got exploded through reality and came out several years later! lol) and are now squarely in the middle of season 7.
> 
> This one's very short, but any longer and I think it would get it's head stuck up it's own ass, so..... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“Shiro?”

Keith hadn’t really even knocked on the door, just tapped two knuckles lightly as he pulled it open and peered inside. 

It was their first night back on Earth and things were much different than they had imagined. Those with families, Pidge and Lance, were soaking in the warm glow of familial love; those who were new to Earth, Allura, Coran and Romelle, were still acquainting themselves with the garrison and it’s officers; those who were alone, Keith, Hunk, and Shiro, were alone. 

“Are you in here?” 

The room was dark, but Shiro knew Keith could see his outline on the bed from the bleeding light of the cracked door. He appreciated the pretense, and knew that if he said nothing Keith would leave him be. 

“Did you talk to Hunk?” Shiro’s question was a reply in it’s own right, allowing Keith to slip through the door and shut them into pitch darkness.

He was at the edge of Shiro’s bed in 2 strides, and he sat with his back against the wall and his hand rested on the bed not far from Shiro’s feet. Shiro hugged his knees a little closer and wondered if Keith’s eyes could see him even in this blackness.

“I checked on him, but he’s locked away and doesn’t want to see anyone right now. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

“That’s good.” 

Keith allowed Shiro the pretense that they were speaking one leader to another for about 30 seconds before he asked, “how are you doing?” and revealed he was here as current leader, checking in on his teammate.

“It’s just not what I expected the return home to be. The Galra, the destruction. I didn’t expect the war to be here.”

Keith nodded though Shiro couldn’t see it. 

“No one thought it would be this way,” Keith admitted. “We all thought Earth would be, I don’t know, safe somehow, I guess. I guess it was naïve to think that; I mean, the Galra had been to Earth at least three times before.”

“Three times?”

“Yeah, when my mom came, and when she left, and when they came after you.”

“Oh, right.” Keith had told him about the visions he had shared with Krolia in the abyss, and the story of his parents finding and then losing each other. 

The next silence lasted several minutes.

“What’s really wrong, Shiro?” When Shiro did not reply, he pressed further, “You’re not one to shut yourself away in the dark just because the war has reached Earth.”

Shiro sighed heavily. His words came out with a restrained heaviness, like he was trying to make them light but failing. “The casualty list was larger than I expected.”

Keith nodded again, he has suspected as much. 

“Adam?”

Shiro pressed his hand to his face and laughed bitterly. 

“He was a good man and a strong pilot. He would have defended the Earth with everything he had.” Keith said.

Shiro sniffed back some tears. In his grief he had forgotten that Adam had been a part of Keith’s life too. Not by any means as close as Shiro had been, but they had had a kind of friendship forged from respect and shared affection of Shiro.

“It’s one life out of millions that were lost because of the Galra…” Shiro’s diplomatic tone cracked around the edges as he spoke, then finally broke into a soft sob. He dimly registered Keith’s hand on his toes, offering a strange empathy. “I loved him,” Shiro choked out around his tears. “And now he’s gone because of a war I brought to his door.”

He took a deep breath and steadied his thoughts. “It’s hard to reconcile. I don’t regret losing him over the mission, but I wish it hadn’t turned out this way.”

Shiro sniffed and cried softly in the darkness. The two men sat in silence for a long time, connected only by a warm hand on Shiro’s foot. 

“I think,” Keith said slowly, uncertainly, trying to gather his own thoughts as he spoke, “we can’t undo what’s been done… the only thing we can do – to honour Adam and everyone else – is exactly what we were going to do. We’re going to find a way to fix this, and to send Sendak and his armies away. You and me and Voltron.”

Keith’s fingers curled the rest of the way around Shiro’s foot and held it tightly. Shiro smiled down in its direction as if he could see it. 

“Thank you, Keith.”

“I needed this too, I think.” Keith’s smile was audible in the dark. 

They settled into a short discussion of tactics and the application of the some of the new tech they had seen so far at the garrison. Afterwards, Keith gave Shiro’s foot a gentle squeeze as he bid goodnight, and then he slipped out into the night back to his own room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always for reading!
> 
> AHH it's only like 4 more days until season 8! 
> 
> God I had better have the last section finished on time! I'm working on it! I'm working on it! I swear! 
> 
> Now, I assume y'all do, but just to confirm - we all want to see some explicit Sheith content, yes? 
> 
> Let me know! And as always you can find me on tumblr a WatermelonTuesdays and on twitter as WTuesdays.


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